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'El Chapo's' indictment in New Hampshire raises prospect of New England trial

Drug lord met FBI informant face-to-face

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Updated: 10:29 PM EST Jan 11, 2016

The U.S. is now beginning the extradition process for the captured cartel leader and there is a possibility he could end up being tried in New England.

'El Chapo's' indictment in New Hampshire raises prospect of New England trial

Drug lord met FBI informant face-to-face

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Updated: 10:29 PM EST Jan 11, 2016

BOSTON —

The extradition process has started to bring Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to the United States, and an undercover operation run by the Boston office of the FBI could lead to his being tried in New Hampshire federal court.

Guzman was indicted in New Hampshire as part of the case, one of seven federal jurisdictions that charged the drug lord. While other cases involve larger amounts of drugs, the local case features close personal contact with Guzman, including a face-to-face meeting with him between an FBI informant and Guzman in Guzman’s Mexican mountain hideout.

WCVB obtained exclusive video from the FBI’s infiltration of the cartel, a three-year operation that spanned half the globe. Numerous meetings were recorded between cartel members and undercover operatives posing as Italian mobsters looking to establish a new cocaine pipeline into Europe.

In one meeting in a New Hampshire hotel, a cartel member delivers a note handwritten by El Chapo, a message delivered with an embrace between the operative and the undercover FBI agent. Another meeting in St. Thomas in the Caribbean featured a phone conversation between an undercover agent and Guzman.

Now that El Chapo has been recaptured, New Hampshire is one of the seven jurisdictions that could put the drug lord on trial.

“Whatever the biggest case, the best chance of convicting him, that's where the case is going to go,” said Greg Noonan, a former federal prosecutor now working in private practice at Collora LLP in Boston.

Noonan, who worked as a prosecutor in San Diego and Boston, has dealt with attempts to extradite alleged criminals from Mexico. He said it’s a process that can take a year, and that’s if Mexican authorities cooperate.

While the personal contact with Guzman in the New Hampshire case could help convict him, it wouldn’t necessarily sway government officials in deciding to try him in New Hampshire.

“Ultimately the (Department of Justice) is going to figure out in what district it has the best case, the best witnesses, the best attorneys, the best agents and the best shot of putting El Chapo in jail for the rest of his life,” he said.

WCVB’s Karen Anderson asked him if action could be taken against Sean Penn, who met with El Chapo for his Rolling Stone article.

“Is there any potential that Mr. Penn or anyone he worked with took steps to make it more difficult for the United States or Mexico to locate Guzman,” Noonan said. “I think the rubber would meet the road if he used burner phones or used protected computer services or destroyed any linkages to Mr. Guzman.”

Penn has said he used encryption and burner phones, though he told the Associated Press he had “nothin’ to hide” after photos surfaced in the Mexican media suggesting he had been under surveillance.